THE

MOST

IMMEDIATE

PROSPECTS

FOR

THE

DEVELOPMENT

OF

CONSTRUCTION A. Ya. Anpilov*

CERAMICS and

INDUSTRY

IN THE

USSR

V. K. Kanaev~

In recent y e a r s , the c o n s t r u c t i o n c e r a m i c s industry of the USSR has significantly i n c r e a s e d its p r o d uction output. During the c u r r e n t f i v e - y e a r period the i n c r e a s e in the output of the fundamental types of a r t i c l e s of c o n s t r u c t i o n c e r a m i c s , as a c c o m p l i s h e d at the c o n c e r n s of the M i n i s t r y of S t r u c t u r a l M a t e r i a l s Industry of the USSR, is c h a r a c t e r i z e d by the following data: the production of facing tiles has i n c r e a s e d by 46.1% in 1970, as c o m p a r e d to the production in 1965; the production of floor tiles has i n c r e a s e d by 31.5% during the s a m e p e r i o d , that of facade tiling has i n c r e a s e d by five t i m e s , the production of s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n a r t i c l e s h a s i n c r e a s e by 27.1%, and that of a c i d - r e s i s t a n t products has i n c r e a s e d by 32.3%; f r o m a m o n g the l a t t e r , the production of a c i d - r e s i s t a n t tiles has i n c r e a s e d by 2.2 t i m e s , and that of sewage pipes has i n c r e a s e by 13.5%. By joining the nationwide competition with the p u r p o s e of p r o p e r l y m e e t i n g the 100th a n n i v e r s a r y j u b i lee of the birth of the founder of o u r p a r t y and g o v e r n m e n t , V. I. Lenin, the collectives of the c o n s t r u c t i o n c e r a m i c s plants i n c r e a s e d the total production volume in 1969 by 7.4% as c o m p a r e d to 1968, and during the s a m e p e r i o d i n c r e a s e d the output of a r t i c l e s of c u l t u r a l - e v e r y d a y designation by 17.3%. The capital c o n s t r u c t i o n plan has been met by 108%. New production capabilities have been brought into action: the productive c a p a c i t y f o r floor tiling has been brought up to 3500 thousand m 2 p e r y e a r , that of s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n a r t i c l e s has been brought up to 180 thousand m 2 p e r y e a r , that of internal facing tiling h a s been i n c r e a s e d to 150 thousand m 2 p e r y e a r , and the productive capacity of c a r a m i c sewage pipes has been brought up to 16 thousand tons. In 1969 all the c o n c e r n s of the c o n s t r u c t i o n c e r a m i c s industry of the Ministry of the Building M a t e r i a l s Industry of the USSR o p e r a t e d under the new conditions of planning and economic stimulation. The b e s t r e s u l t s in the w o r k w e r e obtained by the c o l l e c t i v e s of the Shchekinsk "Kislotoupor" Plant, the K h a r ' k o v O r d e r of the Red Banner of L a b o r Tile Plant, the Slavyansk C e r a m i c Combine, the Voronezh Plant f o r C e r a m i c P r o d u c t s , and the T b i l i s i C e r a m i c Combine, which o v e r a n u m b e r of y e a r s have b e e n w i n n e r s of the s o c i a l i s t competition among the c o n c e r n s of the Ministry of the Building M a t e r i a l s Industry of the USSR. All in all, l a b o r productivity of c o n s t r u c t i o n c e r a m i c s in 1969 i n c r e a s e d by 5.9% as c o m p a r e d to the p r e v i o u s y e a r . The fundamental f a c t o r in the r i s e in l a b o r productivity was the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of new t e c h nics and advanced technology. During the y e a r s 1966-1969, new technological p r o c e s s e s w e r e adopted by c o n s t r u c t i o n c e r a m i c s plants and m o d e r n types of equipment w e r e installed. B e l t - c o n v e y e r d r i e r s w e r e installed at m o s t of the plants producing c e r a m i c tiles, providing f o r the drying of the p r e s s e d out tile during 6-20 min instead of the p r e v i o u s l y accepted 8-24 h. Old p r e s s i n g equipment was r e p l a c e d by p r e s s e s of a higher capacity and productivity. The plants manufacturing tiles for internal facing w e r e p r a c t i c a l l y wholly changed f r o m the f i l t e r p r e s s i n g method of p r e p a r a t i o n of the p r e s s - p o w d e r to the drying of the slip in atomizing d r y e r s . This * A d m i n i s t r a t i o n head of the c e r a m i c industry, M i n i s t r y of the Building M a t e r i a l s Industry, USSR. t D i r e c t o r of the State Scientific R e s e a r c h Institute of Building C e r a m i c s (NIIStroikeramika). T r a n s l a t e d f r o m Steklo i K e r a m i k a , No. 4, pp. 10-12, April, 1970.
9 Consultants Bureau~ a division of Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York~ N. Y. 10011. All rights reserved. This article cannot be reproduced for any pttrpose whatsoever without permission of the publisher. A copy of this article is available from the publisher for $15.00.

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made it possible to f r e e m o r e than 1000 people f r o m manual labor and to set f r e e m o r e than 20,000 production a r e a .

m 2

of

The plants f o r s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n products w e r e rigged with c o n v e y e r s of various constructions f o r casting and souring of l a r g e a r t i c l e s . In o r d e r to i m p r o v e the continuous m a s s production, the c o n v e y e r s w e r e c o m p l e m e n t e d with c a r r i a g e d r y e r s of the SU-1 c o n s t r u c t i o n of the G i p r o s t r o i m a t e r i a l y (State Institute f o r the Planning of E s t a b l i s h m e n t s of the Building M a t e r i a l s Industry). Adopted w e r e c o n v e y e r lines at the f o r m i n g - d r y i n g section of c e r a m i c pipes. The firing t i m e duration of v a r i o u s types of construction c e r a m i c s has been s h o r t e n e d c o n s i d e r a b l y . T o w a r d s the end of 1969 t h e r e w e r e in operation in the Soviet Union in c o n c e r n s of the construction c e r a m i c s industry m o r e than 40 s p r a y d r y e r s built by the Minsk Building M a t e r i a l s Combine and the P l a n ning and Design Office of the State Scientific R e s e a r c h Institute of Building C e r a m i c s , m o r e than 30 b e l t c o n v e y e r d r y e r s built by the Gas Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and the State Scientific R e s e a r c h Institute of Building C e r a m i c s , an automat for the p r e s s i n g of b r a i d e d - p a t t e r n e d l a r g e size tiles for f l o o r s , and m o r e than ten r i m o s e f u r n a c e s f o r single-line speed firing of c e r a m i c tiles on r o l l e r s o r grid made of r e f r a c t o r y m a t e r i a l . More than 10% of the total output of s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n p r o d u c t s has b e e n c o n v e r t e d to the p r o d u c tion f r o m p o r c e l a i n bodies without an i n c r e a s e in the firing t e m p e r a t u r e ; the output of colored facing tiling f o r internal facing of walls (in 1969 there w e r e produced m o r e than two million m 2 colored facing tiles) and of floor tiling made of colored m a s s e s has been significantly i n c r e a s e d . Very advantageous to national economy is the s h a r p change in the a s s o r t m e n t of acidproof p r o d u c t s towards the side of i n c r e a s e d output of aeidproof tiles and s e c t i o n - s h a p e d products. This does not by f a r complete the list of technical m e a s u r e s which have been undertaken during the past y e a r s by c e r a m i c c o n c e r n s of o u r country. The implementation of the m o s t p r o g r e s s i v e technological p r o duction p r o c e s s e s e x e r t s a d e t e r m i n i n g effect on the speeding up of the growth t e m p o s of labor productivity. It m u s t b e mentioned, however, that one of the big s h o r t c o m i n g s in the work of the c o n s t r u c t i o n c e r a m i c s industry is the r e l a t i v e l y low quality and the limited a s s o r t m e n t of the production output. Despite the fact that the production output of the 1st g r a d e in 1969 i n c r e a s e d as c o m p a r e d to the data during the 1966-1968 period, its c o m m e r c i a l condition t r a i l s the b e s t foreign s a m p l e s as to the s p r e a d of the glaze, whiteness, p r e c i s i o n in g e o m e t r i c a l size, c o r r e c t n e s s in configuration, and the finishing quality of the a r t i c l e s . The b a s i c r e a s o n f o r this a r e the difficulties a s s o c i a t e d with providing the c o n c e r n s with high-quality raw m a t e r i a l , disruptions of the technological p r o c e s s at the plants, the p r e s e n c e of manual labor at v a r i o u s stages of production (especially in c a s e of s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n products), as well as the i m p e r f e c t i o n in the construction of the firing a g g r e g a t e s . T h e r e f o r e , the fundamental t a s k of the c o l l e c t i v e s of the c o n c e r n s as well as of the s c i e n t i f i c - r e s e a r c h and project organizations in 1971-1975 m u s t be c o n s i d e r e d to b e the c r e a t i o n of m e c h a n i z e d and a u t o m a t i z e d technological production p r o c e s s e s , which would m a k e it p o s s i b l e to i n c r e a s e the production output and the labor productivity, and to i m p r o v e the quality of the p r o duction. In 1969 the collectives of the Sverdiovsk C e r a m i c P l a n t , t h e Slavyansk Combine, the K h a r ' k o v B r i c k Plant, and the Guchkovsk Plant, in collaboration with the State Scientific R e s e a r c h Institute of Building C e r a m i c s , began industrial testing-out of the new a s s e m b l y - l i n e technology f o r the production of c e r a m i c tiles and b r i c k s . The e s s e n t i a l difference of this technology f r o m the existing p r o c e d u r e lies in high-speed operation of technological p r o c e s s e s in m e c h a n i z e d production lines with the m i n i m u m manual labor, w h e r e by productivity is doubled, the product quality is i m p r o v e d , and the production p r o c e s s is organized in an entirely new m a n n e r . Single-row horizontal firing of tiles in slot kilns i m p r o v e s t h e i r quality b e c a u s e it m a k e s it possible to obtain a thicker glaze and to eliminate such p e r s i s t e n t faults as "comb" t r a c k s and chipped edges. The principal possibility of f a b r i c a t i n g facing tiles on c o n v e y e r - b e l t m e c h a n i z e d lines (over the ent i r e s l i p - s o r t i n g section of the finished production) has been p r o v e n in 1967 on the Luehinsk combine of facing m a t e r i a l s . During the expired y e a r , the p e r f e c t e d lines including the s p r a y d r y e r , the p r e s s , the h i g h - s p e e d conveyer drying, the slotted u n i s e r i a l f u r n a c e with a r o l l e r - or a r e t i c u l a t e d t r a n s p o r t e r , and the glazing facility of an effective construction have been installed on four of the a b o v e - e n u m e r a t e d plants. The f i r s t data of c o m m e r c i a l exploitation of the new equipment b e s p e a k their total work feasibility and

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t h e i r p r o m i s i n g p r o s p e c t s . On the b a s i s of t h e s e r e s u l t s a r e s o l u t i o n has been taken to convert the p r o duction at the Kuchinsk combine of facing m a t e r i a l s , as well a s that at the Volgograd, Voronezh, Guchkovsk, and Moscow c e r a m i c plants to c o n v e y e r - b e l t m e c h a n i z e d lines. Documentation is being p r o c e s s e d for the construction of l a r g e c o n s t r u c t i o n c e r a m i c s c o m b i n e s in T o m s k and Pskov equipped with a c o m p l e t e m e c h anized p r o c e s s f o r the production of c e r a m i c tiles. In the Jubilee Y e a r of 1970 the collective of the State Scientific R e s e a r c h Institute of BuiIding C e r a m i c s , in close collaboration with the c o l l e c t i v e s of c o m m e r c i a l c o n c e r n s , ought to develop continuous production a u t o m a t i z e d lines for the making of c e r a m i c t i l e s and b r i c k s of a high productivity (400-500 thousand m 2 p e r y e a r ) . T h e s e lines should b e c o m e standard f o r the r e f u r b i s h i n g of all c o n c e r n s of this b r a n c h of industry. With the p u r p o s e of i n c r e a s i n g the high-quality production output of c e r a m i c c o n c e r n s (the Voronezh, A n g a r s k , and A n g r e n s k plants), r o l l e r f u r n a c e s have also been installed, with the firing of facing tiling on c e r a m i c hearth blocks. In 1969 the f i r s t of such kilns w e r e installed in the Minsk combine of c o n s t r u c t i o n m a t e r i a l s and at the K h a r ' k o v b r i c k plant. In the c u r r e n t y e a r they a r e finishing up in the l a b o r a t o r i e s of the State Scientific R e s e a r c h Institute of Building C e r a m i c s the p r o c e d u r e p r e s c r i b e d f o r the making of l o w - t e m p e r a t u r e s h r i n k a g e - f r e e bodies f o r e a r t h e n w a r e facing t i l e s . The i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of such bodies will c o n s i d e r a b l y i m p r o v e production quality and d e c r e a s e its net cost. At the c o n c e r n s dealing with s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n products t h e r e is also intended a c h a n g e o v e r to p r i n c i p a l l y new c o n v e y e r - t y p e continuous-line m e c h a n i z e d production. C o m m e r c i a l s a m p l i n g of the t e c h nology f o r the production of wash b a s i n s , as worked out at the State R e s e a r c h Scientific Institute of Building C e r a m i c s , by the h y d r o s t a t i c p r e s s i n g method and by c o n v e y e r p u l v e r i z a t i o n glazing has shown a high e c o nomic e f f e c t i v e n e s s and g r e a t p r o s p e c t s f o r new technological solutions. During the y e a r s 1970-1972, the continuous lines for the production of c e r a m i c wash b a s i n s andwash tubes - including a s p r a y d r y e r , a h y d r o s t a t i c p r e s s i n g p r e s s , a h i g h - s p e e d c o n v e y e r d r y e r , and a p u l v e r i z a t i o n glazing c o n v e y e r - ought to be installed at a n u m b e r of plants. At the s a m e t i m e it is intended to draft the plans concerning a c o n v e y e r u n i s e r i a l kiln f o r h i g h - s p e e d firing of the products, the installation of which will conclude the technological p r o c e s s of continuou s - l i n e production. The c h a n g e o v e r of the industry of s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n products to c o n t i n u o u s - o p e r a t i o n c o n v e y e r lines with the p r e s s i n g of the a r t i c l e s f r o m p r e s s - p o w d e r w i l l allow not only to significantly i n c r e a s e the l a b o r productivity at the plants and to r a i s e the production volume thanks to the intensification of the t e c h nological p r o c e s s and the f r e e i n g of the production a r e a , but will also allow the i n c r e a s e in the quality of the production output as a r e s u l t of the liquidation of the c u m b e r s o m e and i m p e r f e c t g y p s u m economy. A significant i n c r e a s e in the output of s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n a r t i c l e s f r o m p o r c e l a i n bodies is being planned f o r the p e r i o d 1970-1971. The production technology of p o r c e l a i n s a n i t a r y - c o n s t r u c t i o n a r t i c l e s , as developed at the State R e s e a r c h Scientific Institute of Building C e r a m i c s and as adopted in 1968-1969 by the Lobnensk plant collective, should be adopted during the next 2-3 y e a r s by the Kuibyshev, Slavutsk, and K i r o v s k plants. Of i m p o r t a n t significance f o r c h e m i c a l industry is the combination in c e r a m i c acidproof a r t i c l e s of high acid r e s i s t a n c e of the m a t e r i a l with its good alkali r e s i s t a n c e . Such m a t e r i a l s , the p r e p a r a t i o n t e c h nology of which has been w o r k e d out at the State R e s e a r c h Scientific Institute of Building C e r a m i c s , a r e b e ing planned to be m a n u f a c t u r e d in c o m m e r c i a l d i m e n s i o n s at the plants of the g l a s s m i n i s t r y s t a r t i n g f r o m 1971. The industry of construction c e r a m i c s should thus undergo new qualitative development in the v e r y n e a r future, thanks to which the production f r o m l o w - m e c h a n i z e d to higher technological cycle should r i s e to the level of m o d e r n c o n t i n u o u s l y - o p e r a t i n g h i g h - s p e e d p r o c e s s e s , with m i n i m a l l o s s e s of manual labor in the m a i n shops.

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